Four 'Till Doomsday
by Showan
Summary: Set after Creamed. Robotnik proves unlockupable. Sonic and Tails now race to stop him getting back in power. Except, when the Drakons get involved, the stakes are raised dramatically. Finished, at long last.
1. Breakout

Four 'Til Doomsday  
  
Part 1:  
  
He sat and brooded, staring at the walls of his cell. Twenty feet of solid steel isolated him from the outside world, except for one tiny slot for the trays of disgustingly organic food and water that he was forced to eat. The prison was deep underground, and patrolled by hundreds of guards. On his body, he knew were at least five separate tags and tracers that could track and immobilise him the moment he escaped. The Mobians had been much more careful than last time. Not even the world's greatest genius could escape from here.  
But Doctor Robotnik was far greater than that.  
  
"I do not believe it!" Sonic yelled at the hologram of Kintobor, as if it was his fault. "That cell was unbreakable! I wasted a whole hour being shown around to check it was unbreakable! He couldn't have escaped!"  
Kintobor timidly managed: "I don't know how, but he's not in there."  
"And why not?!"  
Kintobor's image flickered, the computer equivalent of a cringe. "I'm sorry, Sonic, but he's gone and I can't track him. We activated all the homing devices and found he'd discovered and deactivated them all. He's been missing for at most five days."  
Sonic hammered the keyboard, cracking it in two and causing sparks to fizzle from inside it. He'd worked for six years to stop the madman. Six years, and now he was free again.  
"Got it," said Kintobor.  
"What?"  
"He'll be heading for his base. He may even be there now, depending on when he escaped."  
"His base. he'll have all his robots back again. He'll be able to take over the planet again. The whole damn war is gonna happen again!"  
"Yes. But he knows his enemy this time." "Right." Sonic was out of the door and down four flights of stairs before Kintobor's sensors registered the word. He exploded out of the door and onto the fields of the Emerald Hill Zone, not even stopping to grab Tails as he passed. "Robotnik's loose," he explained to the stunned fox as he ran. "and we've got to reach the Pyramid base before him. Else he's back in power and ready to start creating havoc again."  
"But I thought that his cell was-"  
"So did I!" Sonic shouted. "and I'm gonna make him so sorry it wasn't."  
A blue and orange blur tore off the coast of the Emerald Isles and across the sea, too fast for gravity.  
  
Robotnik struggled into the seat of his egg mobile with an expansive grin. The assortment of cars and boats he'd stolen were metal rubbish, hammily screwed together by unskilled ignorant Mobian hands. His trusty egg mobile was generations ahead of them. They didn't really deserve him as their ruler.  
Although this one of the older models, and kept making odd pinging noises that he was certain it hadn't done last time. No matter- it would still get him to the Pyramid in a couple of hours. Once he was properly armed and fortified as befitted a world dictator, he could put into operation the machine he'd left there.  
Robotnik cackled. Even Sonic wouldn't defeat this- and he knew that because he'd already proved it.  
  
Friction howled in his ears, just the way he liked it to. The water was like concrete at this speed, so Sonic wouldn't sink if he didn't slow down. Actually, these were new shoes designed by Porker for just this purpose, but Sonic didn't need to tell Tails that. The fox hung in his slipstream, visibly impressed.  
Behind them the Emerald Isles disappeared over the horizon. Ahead, the clouds darkened spitefully. "Crud," muttered Sonic, but it was lost to the wind. Tails was shouting to him, as if it was at all possible he hadn't noticed.  
Less then a second later, they were surrounded on all sides by angry weather. A huge fist of a wave surged at them, the rest of the world blotted out by grey water. Sonic curled and spin-attacked, splashing the enemy down. Tails appeared next to him, concerned.  
A vortex of surf opened ahead of them. The wind became deafening. Bullet-rain almost knocked him off his feet. Then there was just water pounding and spraying and spattering. Sonic skidded, span and launched into the air, landing in the middle of the whirlpool.  
"Damn!" Liquid enveloped his feet and he went under. A moment later he erupted in a cloud of spray, legs running furiously. Fast as light, he dodged and ducked everything the sea could throw at him. Spin, duck, jump, land running, dodge, dodge jump, spin, duck, spin, land, spinjumpspinduckjump.  
A huge, familiar sculpture of water arose as in front of him as he flew through the air. "Chaos-" Sonic y- and the tide smashed between his eyes. The world became a rapid flicker of images as Sonic struggled to stay afloat. "Tail-" he was sucked under again. "Glub. meet you at Rob- slosh glub."  
He sank. The stupid shoes were useless once he was beneath the surface.  
  
Robotnik cackled to himself. The egg mobile bobbed along merrily, swept along by the tide of black smoke it left behind it. He calculated two hours before he reached the base. The rest of the world would definitely know he'd escaped by now. The hedgehog would be on his way, once that computer of his told him where to go. But the computer was a pale mockery of Robotnik's genius.  
He pressed a couple of buttons and issued a few commands to the microphone. The hedgehog had to get there before him, of course, for the plan to work, but a couple of surprises on the way wouldn't be amiss.  
  
Tails burned over the forest, his head filled with troubles. He hated having to abandon Sonic, but the hedgehog had told him to, and they needed to stop Robotnik at once. Sonic would survive by himself- if water hadn't killed him when it killed Johnny, it couldn't kill him now.  
He recognised the ruins of Metropolis City ahead of him and changed course into the wilderness. The woodland grew denser and wilder. Suddenly, ahead of him, a crater blew itself out of the wood. Tails looked in shock to see four evil looking robots rise up out of the ruins. Each one was about as high as one of the trees in the wood, basically humanoid in a clunky sort of way, covered head to toe in festoons of weapons. They floated on a haze of blue fire spewing from their feet and jetpacks.  
He assessed the situation quickly. They looked tough, and pretty spin- attack repellent, but they could be defeated after a while. Except Sonic was twenty thousand leagues under the sea and he was on his own. 


	2. Marathon

Four 'Til Doomsday  
  
Part 2:  
  
Sonic fell. Under the angry surface the water was calm, grey and most importantly empty. Nothing existed for miles around except the huge expanse of water underneath him. The light from above rapidly faded.  
The air in his lungs began to burn slowly. Sonic felt his age-old phobia assail him- he was surrounded by his enemy, alone, abandoned, he couldn't breath. but he ignored it. He wished he'd brought Porker's air bubble invention with him, but he'd left it in the base. He'd only got the shoes because he'd forgotten to take them off. Suddenly the water around him began to surge violently. He must have fallen into the path of a strong current- very strong, he decided, as it whisked him away.  
A cascade of air bubbles sloshed and whooshed around him. As his lungs steadily emptied, he caught a couple of the bigger ones as they passed and breathed in. His whole body still ached desperately but he stayed alive a little longer. He couldn't see beyond the shield of moving water and bubbles, but the ocean around him changed as he went. The undercurrent took him through kelp forests, shoals of fish, past underground volcanoes and huge sharks until finally it smashed into a solid rock face.  
The world darkened as Sonic was fired through the underground passage the water had worn away. The extreme water ride swerved and veered, slamming into the rock several times and then dragging him away, scraping grazes across his skin. Then he was spat out again.  
The water stopped dead. Sonic's head broke the surface and his feet touched the ground and he breathed in properly for the first time in his life. The shadow of a palm tree lay across the oasis's calm surface. The rush of water continued pouring out of the ground on the other side of the lagoon, pushing against his leg gently.  
He climbed out and leaned against the tree, stunned by his luck. After he'd got back into the habit of breathing, he stood up shakily and checked where he was. The orange desert stretched out around him on all sides, but away on the horizon, he made out a triangular shape.  
Sonic grinned. He'd be there in a few minutes, tackle the defences in a few more and have the entire place destroyed in less then half an hour. Then he could gloat and tease Tails when he finally arrived.  
With an electronic hiss, a bolt of lightning buried itself in his back, sizzling through him to his brain and he collapsed.  
  
Tails flew like a bat out of Hell. The four titans were spread out in a menacing halo behind him, sending rings of blue fire that he ducked and dived to avoid. He could plausibly have taken on one, maybe even two with Amy or Porker behind him. As it was, he wouldn't be able to dodge fast enough for much longer.  
He made a decision and dived into the forest, which was now more of a jungle. The robots stayed where they were and fired faster now he was making himself an easy target. The fatal rain fell and Tails had no umbrella- he jiggled and changed direction at random until he plunged beneath the surface of the leaf canopy. Now he was invisible, the mechs had no choice but to follow him.  
Trees appeared from nowhere, aiming straight at his forehead. Living on his nerves, Tails hovered just out of reach of the four androids. He could hear the crunches as they flattened the trees he'd so closely avoided. On the bright side, the trees were inflicting some damage in their death- the robots were covered in dents and scratches, and were slowing down considerably. One or two had stopped firing at Tails and were taking out the trees to evade more collisions.  
And suddenly the ground beneath Tails disappeared and he found himself floating over a huge gorge, devoid of any cover whatsoever. As the four Badniks erupted from the undergrowth, he stopped his tails and plunged toward the ground.  
The robots followed him, guns blazing. Gravity sucked him down, his internal organs being left slightly behind as usual. The extremely hard and fatal floor grew more and more detailed.Ten feet from the ground, his tails whirled back into action. The fox performed a cringingly dangerous one- eighty and flew like a bullet at his attackers, blurring over their shoulders as the first one hit.  
The explosions pursued him fifty feet in the air before fading to a minor heat wave. Exhausted, Tails peered down at the wreckage. Two robots had flattened themselves in a smoking crater. One had been embedded into the cliff face when it didn't turn fast enough.  
The last one was mostly in one piece and approaching fast, many of its guns still functional. Tails had told himself he could beat just one. He changed his mind.  
  
Robotnik registered three robots down. They'd lasted longer then he'd expected. The hedgehog must be getting rusty. Good.  
He switched on his stereo and played something loud and harsh, imagining his armies wiping out the Emerald Isles. He was nearly there. 


	3. Imminent Doomsday

Four 'Til Doomsday  
  
Part 3:  
  
Sonic awoke to find himself chained to a wall. He was suspended over a vertiginous drop, which was the only thing in between him and a nasty looking pool of lava. Both his arms ached, and his wrists were sore where they ground against the two metal rings that held him up.  
Apart from that evil trick Amy and Tails had played last April Fools, he couldn't remember waking up in a worse situation. He tore his eyes away from the drop, cautiously in case doing so would let him fall, and looked around.  
Opposite him, the far wall was a few hundred metres away. Sticking out from it like fungi was a huge platform, covered in techno-stuff. Porker, had he been here, would probably have forgotten the drop just by looking at it, but Sonic couldn't forget until he'd looked a little closer.  
"Drakons!"  
  
Tails nearly panicked, but kept his head safe from both his fright and the lasers. Freefalling, he spiralled down past the robot, whipping a mounted gun with both tails as he did so. The gun tumbled away, and the robot spun angrily. Tails flew like a wasp directly at its head.  
A metal fist bigger then he was swatted him away. Tails clutched his head and moaned in pain, but the robot was already bringing its other arm around to open fire. He soared up over the cyborg, trailed by near misses. Suddenly he turned and charged again, keeping alert for both arms. He vaulted over the fist and struck, body slamming right between the eyes at almost sonic speed. The hedgehog would have been impressed.  
There was a crunch and a clang and Tails opened his eyes. From behind a fox-sized hole he could see the orange/pink sky and the body of the robot spasmodically convulsing. Grinning, he grabbed two handfuls of circuitry and jumped back out again, letting the robot fall.  
He turned to look at the ground. From this height, he could already see the Pyramid. He sped on, fast as he could.  
  
Robotnik checked his computer. ETA twenty minutes. By then, his machine would have activated. The hedgehog would be rendered helpless on entering. His victory would be waiting on his doorstep, along with his new and improved unbeatable army. He would beset the world with Badniks once more, while his creations killed the Guardian and took the Emeralds. With Sonic and Knuckles neutralised, the rest of the planet would be demoralised and helpless. The other outlaws would be no trouble. The Mobian police and military forces were over fifty years behind his technology. With specialised Badniks attacking from land, sea and air the animals would have no defences left. They would be thrashed and vanquished, and forced to acknowledge his glorious genius.  
Then he would tame the wilderness that covered half the planet, flattening forests, levelling mountains and filling in smaller oceans. Tarmac and metal would carpet the ground, turning Mobius into one big ball bearing. He would construct huge cities with skyscrapers so high they could be seen from space.  
Then he would spread his empire to the Miracle Planet, and into all the other planets of the solar system, wiping out any other life he found until he ruled the galaxy. Through the special zone he could access limitless planets to conquer. He would rule everything; he would be the first man to rule the Universe.  
He did not know that another race had got there first.  
  
He couldn't move, or feel. Half the time he couldn't see. If he strained hard he could nearly hear the incessant whirring and beeping around him, but he had no desire to. Any effort at all could knock him out for days and leave the machines panicking and whirring double speed to bring him back. He was balanced just on the edge of life.  
He couldn't die; the machines would bring him back. He couldn't live; if he tried to gather enough energy to move, the machines whisked it away, leaving him drained again. He couldn't be angry at his situation, because the machines had numbed most unessential parts of his brain.  
All he could do was watch his memories. He didn't even have that many of them.  
  
Sonic swore as another electric shock ran through him. The chief fish held his paddle menacingly, all too eager to give him another one. The floating platform he stood on bobbed gently. Across the sea of lava, the main platform was spreading slowly outwards as the fish in suits worked to built extensions on to it.  
"What the hell do you lot think you're doing here, anyway?" he demanded. The Drakon grinned nastily. Here was one species that hadn't learned the disadvantages of gloating.  
"We're here to reclaim our planet, rodent. We're here to finish off every last one of you Mobians."  
"You've had your turn. The Drakons are pre-history now, dude." Sonic scowled. "We can stop you as soon as you try anything. We're used to madmen trying to take over."  
The four Drakons laughed. Sonic glared at them. "Your long finished! The Drakon Empire was defeated thousands of years ago!"  
The chief Drakon's laughter faded. "Look up, hedgehog."  
Sonic looked up. The sun had gone down and the navy sky was filled with countless stars. He grew dizzy watching them.  
"We are not the Drakon Empire. We were just a tiny outpost. The Drakon Empire covers over a million planets." He laughed at Sonic's expression. "Correct, hedgehog. We cannot be beaten. Can your pitiful planet stand up to even a billionth of our forces? You and everything you know won't even leave a memory." 


	4. Prisoners

Four 'Til Doomsday  
  
Part 4:  
  
Sonic swore to himself, a huge vacuum opening up inside him. How could they hope to defeat an enemy like that? Numbers made them practically indestructible. They would be around until the end of the Universe. How could he stop them? A hundred SuperSonics couldn't do the job.  
"Why would your great empire send people all the way over here then? Mobius is way out of the way on the edge of the galaxy. It wouldn't be worth it just to help you lot."  
The chief smiled unpleasantly. "You wish. Once we tell them of the power of the Chaos Emeralds they will not hesitate to send over reinforcements."  
Sonic shook his head. "Nice try. I know that you Drakons originally created the Emeralds and brought them to Mobius. You masters'll have no interest in something they've already got."  
"You have an impressive knowledge of history, for one with such a miniscule lifespan. But the Emeralds were created on Mobius; we just experimented with them until we unlocked their power. When we have this planet we will create many more."  
"Well. uh." Sonic ran out of ideas. The fish laughed and electrocuted him some more.  
  
Tails swooped down and rested on the apex of the pyramid. The outside defences no longer worked, and the main doors had been pre-shattered. He hopped off his perch and glided down and into the base.  
A blinding flash of light and a crackle of bottle green energy stopped him dead and sent him sprawling to the ground. Tails rubbed his sightless eyes, blinking madly. The light must have burnt a millimetre or more out of the back of them. As he got to his feet, the bare outline began to fight its way into his eyes behind an army of white dots. He blinked again and caught sight of the body-sized metal claw a spit second before it grabbed him.  
Protesting loudly, he was dragged across the floor by both tails. He looked behind him and saw he was being pulled towards some machine that was mounted on the wall. Sitting uncomfortably, he turned around and pried off the claw. It broke easily and Tails stood up, rubbing the sore tail he'd been sitting on.  
The claw retracted into the machine and as it did so four steel tentacles whipped out and would have caught his arms and legs if he'd stayed still. As he watched, they pinned thin air to the wall, and hundreds of smaller coils reared up and would have buried themselves in his skin. "Monitoring vitality signs," croaked a synthesised voice. Several tubes began leaking fluid. "Error."  
Tails looked in horror at what would have befallen him. Then he did a double take as he looked across to an identical device next to his and saw someone else who hadn't been so lucky.  
  
Sonic had been forgotten and left to rot. He kept his head down and his eyes dull, looking totally hopeless. But he was far from beaten.  
As much as he hated appearing like this, he was trading his pride for something far more useful. A loudmouth scientist who gave no thought to eavesdroppers was lecturing the chief Drakon and his advisors.  
"The time of least astral interference, as far as we can predict, will be in about a week's time. That's when we start the transmission."  
"And how's progress on the transmission?"  
"Well, sir, we think we can do it,"  
"Keep talking," murmured the hedgehog, but no one heard him.  
"Eight thousand years ago, we landed on Mobius. We had a couple of short-range transmitters, so we could report back to the mothership. Now, obviously, its not there anymore and the transmitters can't reach out any further than the edge of the solar system, which is not nearly far enough."  
The chief slammed his paddle/staff down impatiently. "So we can't do it?"  
"We can do it, sir. It just calls for something much more drastic. This is what we propose to build." The Drakon produced a green cube, which displayed a hologram some machine. To Sonic, it looked like a mechanised rosebush with a glorified satellite dish on top. "We have cannibalised the original transmitters to get this," he showed them all a large computer chip, "which will give us the data to tune in to the right frequency. With this and a big enough power surge, we can broadcast our message to anywhere in the galaxy."  
"Power surge?" the fish grinned. "From the Chaos Emeralds, yes?"  
"Unnecessary and risky, sir. The machine is so efficient, nothing of that sort will be required. Taking the Emeralds would only bring attention to us before we're ready. I'm concerned already that they'll come looking for the hedgehog."  
The chief sent a beam of lightning across the volcano, making Sonic yell out. "They are of no consequence. When their leader is a charred pin cushion they won't have the spirit to fight us." Sonic gritted his teeth but kept silent.  
"As I was saying," continued the scientist, "we intend to power this thing with the volcano itself." He stopped for dramatic effect then carried on. "We need to totally seal this volcano. When we trigger an eruption, the lava will be forced at high pressure through a series of generators." Sonic smiled to himself as the Drakon prattled on. They thought he was helpless. The arrogant idiots would pay for that. He had a new trick up his sleeve now.  
With supersonic vibrations, he shattered the manacles holding him from certain death. Gravity took a firm hold and he plunged towards the waiting lava below. 


	5. Discovery

Four 'Til Doomsday  
  
Part 5:  
  
The hedgehog wired up to the wall watched him with dead eyes. He did not move, except occasionally to take in an unhealthily shallow breath. He was pale, almost white, but slashed on each of his grey quills was a faded red colour. There was something totally horrific about his deathly state, and Tails almost turned to run.  
He stopped himself just in time, and forced himself to face the apparition. It was worse than facing a ghost. Pulling himself together, he set about ripping away the coils imprisoning the hedgehog. Shadow fell to the floor like a doll, gasping for air but doing nothing else.  
"Are you alright?" Tails asked, when he'd finished. Shadow didn't even nod. "Shadow?"  
The hedgehog screwed up both eyes tight and gritted his teeth at the effort he had to exert just to get up on his hands and knees. ".s." he collapsed again. Tails reached down, gripped both shoulders and pulled him to his feet.  
"How did you get here?" Shadow raised a hand, pointed over Tails's shoulder and let it drop back to his side. The fox turned to see a water tank standing against the grey wall. A black cable connected it to the hideous machine he'd freed Shadow from.  
"What about it?" Tails walked over to investigate, and heard Shadow's body hit the ground behind him. He helped him back up and walked him to the tank.  
Its surface was shiny and new. A tangle of cords tied it up to a dozen different contraptions, one being the light that had blinded Tails when he'd entered. Shadow, unable to do anything else, looked from him to the line between the tank and the machine.  
Tails unplugged it. Inside were long strands of transparent metal. Glowing green particles travelled along it, sparkling and disappearing as they hit the air. Shadow grabbed it from him and held it as the last of the sparks crackled into his hands. Without him at the other end, though, the supply ran out after a few minutes.  
Shadow already looked so much better. His spines were a darker shade of grey, and his eyes light up slightly. He stood by his own power, for the first time in weeks. He grinned. "Feel better?" inquired Tails.  
"Less like a rag doll. I doubt I can run or fight, though. You'll have to fly me out of here."  
"Sure," said Tails, "but how did you get in here?"  
  
Robotnik's base was less than five miles away now. The madman clenched his fists in fury- what in Hell did the fox think he was doing? Where was Sonic? Why wasn't he rendered unconscious and being hooked up automatically to his brilliant machine?  
Of course, the trap wouldn't affect the fox. He'd lost Sonic, but he was not going to lose Shadow. Tails must be stopped at once. Then he would recapture Shadow and evacuate him and the energiser to somewhere safe until the other hedgehog was dealt with. With them both powering his army, nothing would stop him.  
He soared over the mountaintops and descended onto the Pyramid like a high-tech Angel of Death, hundreds of concealed gun barrels telescoping out of the egg mobile's underbelly.  
  
"I was falling," remembered Shadow. "I was falling, and heating up. I watched the planet approaching and cursed myself for changing my mind too late. But I had no way to go back now.  
"I tried to Chaos Control, but there wasn't a spark of energy left in me. So I pulled it in from the air around me. I knew that I'd never get enough to teleport. But something else did the teleporting for me. There was a flash, and I landed in the base, over there. I got to my feet, and this bright light went off, stunning me. All my strength went, and I was paralysed. I couldn't even move as that thing link me up to it.  
"It's kept me just alive ever since. I didn't know if Robotnik was still around. I wasn't sure if it was worse to endure his gloating or to be left here forever." Shadow's eyes darkened. "But I'm free now, and on the way down I decided I wanted to see this world properly before I went and died for it."  
"Well let's get out of here and get back to it then," said Tails.  
The broken main doors were spread around the base in an avalanche of fire and noise. "Hold it right there, meddlesome child!" cried Robotnik's voice. The black, ungainly silhouette of his craft eclipsed the only exit. "You are going to die now, and you, my pathetic little friend, can say good bye to your newfound freedom right now." Foam bubbled at the corners of his mouth as he screamed, "I will not be defeated anymore!" 


	6. Showdown the First

Four 'Til Doomsday  
  
Part 6:  
  
Tails just had time to leap into the air with Shadows body before Robotnik's multitude of guns opened up. Slashing red comets exploded on contact with the wall behind him, showering him in painfully hot sparks. Bundling Shadow behind the Chaos tank, Tails spun one-eighty degrees and launched himself up to the ceiling.  
The lasers smashed huge cracks into the metal, and Tails found himself pinned on all sides. Robotnik cackled as he surrounded the fox with an inescapable globe of gunfire. He would have dearly loved to gloat now, but the constant reports and impacts were too deafening for the animal to hear him.  
He altered his aim, narrowing the ring of fire and trapping the boy in. and the ceiling collapsed. Great chunks of steel came tumbling to the ground, clanging and ricocheting his blasts back to him. He struck a button and a blue hazy shield sprang out of the ship, batting away the scarlet lights.  
The shield dissipated and the guns poked their barrels back out with a clunk. Robotnik swivelled to look for Tails. The fox swooped down like an angry bird, directly to his face, where no guns could aim. Punching, kicking and biting, Tails was perfectly safe, Robotnik cursed.  
He gave up trying to fend the boy off, and instead stuck a meaty fist as far as he could into Tails's fur chest. He yelped and landed on the floor hard. Looking up into about twenty barrels, he almost fainted.  
  
Shadow was feeling faded already. Hating his weakness every second, he'd crawled far enough away from the tank to give himself a good run-up. All his energy lay in that tank, waiting to be fed into the eggman's robots. He would have one spin-attack to break it with. He didn't think he could manage another one anyway, but he certainly couldn't stand up to Robotnik when he was noticed.  
He took a deep breath, put his head down and charged. For the first time in weeks, the world blurred and he felt his feet pounding on the ground, pushing him on. If only he weren't so weak. He curled up and launched himself into the steel drum.  
With a clang and a thump, he landed hard on the floor. The container sported a massive dent, but his heart sank as he saw it had not ruptured. He heard the dictator's yell of surprise and annoyance and turned slowly, unable to do anything else.  
  
Robotnik immediately targeted the hedgehog and fired- just a couple of shots to stun. Shadow wasn't escaping that easily. "Now you," he growled, turning back.  
Tails had gone. Robotnik reared up in alarm, and someone dropped onto his head. "Hold still just a minute," said Tails, elbowing the doctor out of the way and grabbing the control stick off of him. "Here we go. I'm guessing this accelerates. whoa!"  
Robotnik pushed the fox overboard as his egg mobile lurched forward at high speed. "No you don't. aaahh!"  
The craft smashed into the Chaos tank, obliterating both in a shower of splintered debris. Green lightning crackled along the wires spilling out, surging across the floor and all over the mutated maniac. He clambered to his feet, face red and moustache blackened. "Hello, Doctor," came the voice behind his back.  
He turned slowly, with mounting apprehension. Shadow stood, his voice strong, his eyes bright and sparkling with anger. A faint aura of silver sparks crackled around his now vibrant fur. The nightmare hedgehog threw back his head and laughed like hell, bubbling with energy. He stopped to see Robotnik disappearing through a hatchway in the far wall.  
"He's going to activate his Badnik army!" cried Tails. "We have to stop him!"  
Shadow shook his head. "With what? I've got all his energy. Wait outside; I'll meet you there once I've burned some of it off. I'll go Super if I don't."  
Tails legged it back into the sunlight as behind him Shadow gave a delighted guffaw of laughter and smashed everything in sight. The fox listened in amazement to the sounds of destruction that echoed from within. Then the four metre thick stone walls exploded outwards and Shadow landed on his feet. "Hold on, not done yet." And he charged back in through an undamaged patch of wall.  
The base disappeared in a cloud of dust and devastation. When Shadow had finally burned off enough energy to stand still, the entire structure had fallen in ruins. He looked at it in satisfaction for a minute, then yelled, "Okay, Eggman, that makes us even!"  
"Whew," muttered Tails, who'd been worn out just watching. "Shall we go?"  
"Yep." Shadow grabbed Tails hand and they vanished with a jade flash. 


	7. Showdown the Second

Four 'Til Doomsday  
  
Part 7:  
  
Sonic stood atop the mountain, wind and sand being blown into his face. Behind him were Tails, Amy, Shadow and the rest. The black hedgehog was still in high spirits, apparently having a break from his usual reclusive self. No one was sure whether this change was permanent yet. The ruins of the Pyramid were just about visible on the horizon, but he was looking in the other direction, towards the Drakon's volcano on the edge of the desert.  
The fish had already detected them. They poured out of the sides of the mountains in their hundreds, each one armed to the teeth with paddles or techno-gun things. Sonic would have preferred to attack them alone, but that wasn't an option. "Okay, guys, all ready?"  
"When you are," called Shadow.  
"Let's go then!" The others began to move as two blurs charged down the valley and into the desert. Sonic and Shadow raced across the two thousand feet of dust in less than a minute, and smashed into the waiting militia like light speed bowling balls. Sonic smashed through the Drakon's robotic suits like a cannon through cardboard. He skidded to a halt, swerving around the guards and causing them to shoot each other.  
"Oh yes! Can you get any cooler than that?" he yelled.  
"Easily!" came his opposite's reply. Shadow spun like a top, hurling the fish away to give himself some space. "Come on then? How're you at dodge ball?" The soldiers opened fire.  
Shadow twirled and whirled as the bolts shot past him. Then he jumped high into the air and flipped over, stray shots missing by less than millimetres. Finally he landed and fell backwards, swirling his arms Matrix style, until he hit the ground, flipped up and landed on the head of the only one who hadn't been hit by then. The severed head fell to the ground, leaking water as the tiny fish inside swore and cursed.  
Sonic scowled. "Too showy."  
A hail of arrows and a furious fox signalled the arrival of Tails and Amy. The number of robots doubled to meet them, catching the hedgehogs by surprise. "What the f- ooww!" yelled Sonic, as a wasp-like buzzap sizzled past his ear, leaving it red and sore. Quickly he dived through the nearest Drakons and reduced them to scrap.  
The ground was growing damp by now, from the water spilling from the destroyed suits. Sonic swore as he slid twenty feet before regaining control and charging down more guards. Even Shadow was less happy now, and his teeth were gritted as he doggedly demolished fish after fish.  
  
The chief's voice echoed around the huge space inside the volcano: "How long before we are ready?"  
The scientists glanced at each other, and pushed forward a spokesperson. "We believe it will work now, if we trigger an eruption. But the platforms are not finished." He gestured across the vast space. The Drakon platform looked like a chessboard, with huge dark squares infesting the structure. During the eruption, huge pillars of lava would blast through them and destroy everything. The chief made a decision. "Once we have contacted the Empire, this hovel will not matter. Retreat all unnecessary personnel and set up an energy shield around the transmitter. Then trigger the eruption."  
  
"Push forward!" yelled Tails, "we have to get into the volcano!"  
"What does it look like I'm trying to do?" replied Sonic. The Drakons weren't giving them time to think, let alone regroup and strike back. Unless we can pull together and break in, he thought, they'll have sent the message and we'll be helpless. He bounced off a soldier and spin-attacked into the ground, burrowing through layers of hard rock.  
"Nice try," called down a Drakon, and released a fireball from his paddle. Sonic swore again, and reversed at top speed until he came shooting out of the hole with his skin steaming and burnt. His eyes flickered red as he savagely slashed the unfortunate General across the torso and pounded the debris to dust.  
  
With a crackle, a sphere of violet energy sprang up around the transmitter. Its colour grew stronger as the scientists increased the power until it was almost opaque. The chief nodded and said, "Trigger the eruption."  
  
The first quake registered with a punch of dread in the Mobian's stomachs. "We gotta do something!" cried Tails.  
"Like what?"  
"We're doomed!"  
"Alright, who said that?" Sonic glared. But it was true- they were outnumbered about a thousand to five.  
  
Inside the volcano, the constant vibration made everything look slightly out of focus. "All personnel evacuate!" ordered the chief. "Soon Mobius will be ours again!"  
  
Sonic made one last desperate run up the side of the volcano, but the way was almost solid with enemies. After cannoning through twenty his momentum ran out and he tripped.  
The Drakons circled him and took aim. "You lose, hedgehog." But they didn't fire.  
"What the?" Sonic flipped to his feet. Everyone was looking at the sky. It looked like a swarm of bees was attracting their attention. Sonic looked closer.  
Knuckles, and Rouge some way behind him, floated down across the valley. Behind them, some gliding, some riding on skyboards or Knuckles's pteranodon were more echidnas, about a hundred of them. "I don't believe it!" Sonic yelled. High above, Knuckles grinned.  
"You'd better," he called down.  
Then the echidnas fell on the Drakons and fought with the familiarity of old enemies. "Knuckles, get into the volcano. We have to smash the satellite dish thing." Knuckles and Rouge nodded and glided overhead. "Shadow, ready," called Sonic. "Chaos Control!"  
  
With a green flash, the inside of the base appeared before Sonic. Shadow was next to him, and Knuckles and Rouge dropped down to land nearby. The base was shaking dangerously, and there were no Drakons around, save one.  
"You!" the chief screamed at Knuckles. "You will not win again!" Bringing up his paddle, he lunged at Knuckles and the two of them began fighting. Rouge looked on.  
"Leave them to it," she said. "We need to take out this satellite thing."  
"They've put up a shield round it," said Sonic. "Shouldn't take long to fix." Knuckles's body bounced off the shield and he landed heavily.  
"You're too late," cried the chief, his armour cracked and leaking water. "The volcano's erupting!" And Sonic felt the heat rising up from the ground.  
  
And then a lot of things happened very fast. He saw Shadow blurring away, and the shield crackling and faltering. He felt himself leaping and grabbing Knuckles, and Shadow yelling and then the lava obliterated everything except a flash of green.  
  
Amy, Tails and the echidnas had fled to the mountain opposite, leaving the Drakons to be swallowed by the lava. Her insides twinged when she saw the huge column of fire and ash erupting, and Sonic and the rest were nowhere to be found.  
"Tails, can you see them?" she called. The fox shook his head. Amy looked down at her watch communicator.  
"The chances of survival are not good." Kintobor's voice said. "I can't detect any signs of life. The volcano shows no sign of Chaos energy."  
"That's 'cause were over here," said Sonic from behind her. He and Knuckles stood at the very top of the mountain, and Rouge and Shadow were landing close by.  
"Sonic!" Amy crushed his bones with a hug. "What happened?"  
"I'm not sure. Did you take out the shield?"  
Shadow shrugged. "It faltered. I'm not sure it stopped."  
"So, the message could have been sent?"  
"I suppose so."  
There was a long silence. "If they did come, could we do anything?"  
"We could try to defeat the whole galaxy. It could get tough."  
Sonic shrugged dismissively. "Well, we'll see what happens. Now Knuckles, you have a lot of explaining to do." 


End file.
